ghosts
by ChaoticSisters
Summary: Fred died in the battle of Hogwarts, but six months later, he's still pulling pranks
1. Chapter 1

Fred was dead. That much was obvious with one look at him.

But other than that, not much had changed. Fred, you see, was a ghost.

"oi! Fred! Have you seen the trick glasses?" George called from another room. Fred, who was currently floating on his back near one of the bookshelves, shouted back to his twin "I think I saw them in the basement!" he heard a groan of frustration from his brother and laughed to came back into the room and looked up at his brother and rolled his eyes "what are you doing?" Fred had his head inside of a book. Literally.

Once, the sight of his brother as a ghost would have startled him, but George had seen his brother like this for six months now, and he was the only one in the family who knew.

"I'm looking at spells" Fred said simply, twirling a ghostly wand as he did so. "what're you looking at spells for?" George asked, incredulously, though he thought he might know what his brother was up to.

"no reason" Fred replied, pulling his head out of the book, and flipping over to look at his brother. His eyes twinkling mischievously. George laughed "well, whatever it is, you're obviously up to no good" getting a good look at the dusty old novel his face fell for a moment, he quickly turned and headed out of the room "I'm going to get those trick glasses" he called over his shoulder.

Fred sighed and stuck his head back into the book 'ghosts, and corporeal beings'

When George got to the basement, he sat down and leaned his head back against the wall. "why do you keep doing this, Fred?" he whispered to himself. Maybe ghosts had superior knowledge of magic, but what Fred was trying to achieve was impossible, right? George wanted it to work as badly as Fred did..but...it couldn't be possible, could it?


	2. Chapter 2

After a few moments, George stood, and looked around the basement.

There were boxes filled with joke items. He found the trick glasses in a box on the table. He grabbed the box, and headed back up the stairs.

George walked through the joke shop, it seemed a bit spooky when it was closed. He glanced out the window at the dark shadows of diagon alley.

George looked around for a place to put the glasses, finding an empty table, he set the box down, and went back up to the attic.

As he walked towards the room, he slowed down, and stared at a picture of his family on the wall. 'I should probably tell mom about Fred...' he thought to himself. George shook his head to clear it, and continued back to their room.

Fred was doing the same thing he'd been doing when George had left the room. "Fred, get your head out of that book" George said, slightly annoyed. Fred looked at his brother "ok, sure" he replied, hovering near George "is something wrong?" he asked taking in his brothers expression

"no, well...you're always in that book, Freddie..." George said quietly

"i'm worried about you" Fred frowned slightly "why?" he asked

"all this studying, it's not like you" George told him and Fred nodded "well, you've got a point there. Ok, I'll lighten up on the studying"

George smiled "thanks" then he said "Fred...I don't think what you're trying to do is possible...I want it to be, but..." Fred smiled "I know, it seems impossible, but I think I'm getting close" but George shook his head "are you sure though? It's been six months!" Fred rolled his eyes

"are we going to talk about this, or are we going to go prank our entire family?" George laughed, and probably would have shoved his brother, but seeing as Fred was a ghost, it was physically impossible.

"yeah, ok"

A few hours later, they were at the burrow.

The 'traps' had been set, and their parents were on the way home.

"ok, go hide, Fred!" George whispered. Fred rolled his eyes "it's not that hard, brother" as he flew up into the ceiling. The door opened.

"George! What are you doing here?" his mother asked, a bright grin on her face. "ahh, we decided to pay you a visit" George said with a grin

His father frowned in confusion "we?" he asked, George pretended not to hear him. "I've gotten dinner ready for you!" he said with a smile

"how very thoughtful of you, dear" his mum said gratefully, as she and her husband sat down to eat. As they bit into the food, his fathers face turned red, and he quickly grabbed for water, and, as though out of habit, his mom shouted "Fred,George!" instantly clamping her hands around her mouth. A moment later, two voices said "yes?" and Fred floated down from the ceiling with a mischievous grin on his face, and George was laughing. "Fred?" his father said cautiously, not quite believing what he saw. "hi dad, hi mum" Fred said with a smile. Their parents looked bewildered "how long have you..." his mother started "been a ghost? About six months" Fred said "I meant to come see you sooner...but"

He didn't Finnish, he looked at George, who decided to finish for him

"he's been, reading A LOT about ghosts, he's trying to figure all of this out" he explained and Fred gave is brother a grateful smile and mouthed 'thank you'


	3. Chapter 3

Percy returned to the burrow that night, and when he walked into the living room, he stopped in his tracks, staring at his brothers

"what?" George asked "honestly Perce, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Fred laughed.

Percy raised his eyebrows at Fred "really? You're making a joke about this?!" Fred and George stopped smiling "well, it's better than being depressed about it" George said, quietly "yeah" Fred agreed.

Percy rolled his eyes "not sure if I want to hug, or slap you. You git" he told Fred, who stuck out his tongue "well, seeing as neither is possible, you should hug or slap George!" George glared at his twin "prat" he muttered.

They headed back to the joke shop a few hours later, both of them working to make sure everything was ready for the shop to open in the morning.

"hey, George? D'you think we should get rid of the edible dark marks?"

Fred asked from one of the top shelves, where he was making sure that nothing was in danger of falling. "yeah, the world has had enough of it. Good thinking, Fred" George said, going behind the counter and grabbing the box. They had taken them off the shelf right before the war started, but hadn't thrown them out

Fred tried to smile but his grin faltered, George noticed "what's wrong, Fred?" he asked, concern in his voice. "ah, you wouldn't understand" Fred said, trying to wave off the matter "why wouldn't I?" George demanded, and Fred turned to frown at his brother "Because you're not dead!" he shouted, full of the frustration that had been building up for six months. Fred sighed "I'm going upstairs" and with that, vanished into the attic.

George stared sadly at the spot where his brother had disappeared "I'm sorry.." he whispered.

Fred was right, he didn't understand, he had no idea what his brother was going through.

Fred glared at the chair he was unable to sit in. That was the worst part of being a ghost. He couldn't touch anything, it was scary, and he would give anything to be able to. He wished that when he tried to float through the walls, he would just run into them, that he wouldn't float everywhere.

He just wanted to be alive again.

Fred floated over to the bookcase, and stuck his head back into the one he had been reading, he was almost through it, just a couple more chapters to go. He was getting close to an answer.

George finished up in the shop, placing the trick glasses on fake heads, and tossing the dark marks into a rubbish bin, he took one last look around the shop, and climbed the stairs again. But he didn't go back to the room that he knew Fred would be in, he turned, and walked the opposite way down the hall to the kitchen, sitting himself down at the counter, and resting his head in his hands. He simply stayed like that for a while. Just thinking.

Eventually, George reached into his pocket, and pulled out an old photograph of him and his brother. He smiled. The photo was of the two of them in their first year of Hogwarts. Fred was missing a tooth, the result of a prank gone wrong. the nurse had kept him overnight to reattach it. Their mum had been so angry. Smiling to himself, George placed the photo back into his pocket.


End file.
